In spring and fall, desert camping attracts thousands of tourists to Southern California. Joshua trees curve up out of the dry ground like spiky sculptures, and Mojave rattlesnakes sunbathe on rocks. Temperatures peak in the triple digits.

Andrew Irwin of Mt. Ida, Ark. bettered the all-time high school indoor pole vault record for a second time this month, clearing 17 feet, 9 inches on June 14 in an open meet at the Arkansas Vault Club Training Center in Black Springs, Ark. A subsequent 18-0 clearance was ruled a foul when Irwin steadied the bar with his left hand.

The top high school performers in the USA this season; compiled for USA TODAY by Fred Baer, secretary of the Track and Field Writers of America, and Jack Shepard of Track and Field News. (USA high school record through 2008 listed after each event heading.):

Clashes over the sport of off-roading are becoming more violent for riders, property owners and law enforcement officers as conflicts about the use of all-terrain-vehicles (ATVs) escalate, federal officials, landowners and advocacy groups say.

A consensus is growing among defense leaders to send a substantial contingent of U.S. Marines to Afghanistan, probably beginning next spring, while dramatically reducing their deployments to western Iraq, the top Marine general told the Associated Press on Monday.

As of Friday, Oct. 24, 2008, at least 549 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures Friday at 10 a.m. EDT.